10 elements every homepage should have

First impressions last so make it a lasting impression when someone lands on your homepage. You literally have a few seconds to impress and garner interest – do you know what your site visitors are looking for? They’re probably on your site for answers (to their questions), solutions (to their problems) or reasons (to choose you over your competitor)… or all three! Homepages are usually the most-visited page on your website. By having these 10 elements on your homepage, you’re more likely to convert a visitor into a customer.

Headline: Easily visible, clear and precise! You can get creative with your headlines and subheadings… just make sure they don’t sound confusing to your visitor and that your visitor is immediately aware of what you’re about.

Calls-to-Action: The primary objective of CTAs is to encourage your visitor to take action – whether it’s to read more about your products, order a service, speak to an agent, or simply view your product gallery.

Accompanying Image/s: Humans are visual and images will capture the attention of your visitor. Remember, your images need to be high-quality; the higher the quality, the higher the impact. Also, refrain from using stock images that are not specific to your business.

Benefits: Any content marketer will tell you that benefits sell better than features when marketing your products and services online. People want to know what they’re going to gain from doing business with you.

Social Media: Everything online is about being social and sharing. Make sure your company’s social media links are clearly visible and, if possible, have a live feed display so everyone who visits your site can see what you’ve been getting up to, as it unfolds.

Testimonials: Word of mouth is one of the earliest yet most successful ways in history to market your business. Potential customers want to see what others think of you, your products and the customer service – let them.

Easy Navigation: Your pages on your website should be clearly visible and easily accessible. Your Home, About, Services/Products, Contact pages are primarily the most important pages and should always be visible to your visitor.

Features: Just because the benefits sell better than the features doesn’t mean the features don’t have much value. Features are still an important factor to add to your homepage – potential customers want to see what exactly they’ll be paying for.

Help Resource: The reality is that not every visitor will purchase from you after viewing your homepage. And that’s okay – help them to make that decision in the near future by offering help. Make available additional information that will assist in solidifying their decision to buy.

Recognition: Have you won an award, been nominated or voted as a favourite? Your visitors deserve to know! This creates untold credibility that can only ever work in your favour in making an excellent first impression online.

Ten elements may sound like a lot, and that’s why we recommend that you speak to your web designer about incorporating them all on your homepage seamlessly, without making it look too cluttered. Experts in web design, however, needn’t a reminder to bear this in mind during the design process. Gridhost’s web design team ensures every website created complies with these, and more, and is specifically laid out according to industry best practice so your visitors are never left with a question unanswered.